Saturday, October 8, 2016

#MerlotMe with Sausage Baked Rigatoni

October is a big
celebratory month for myself with my birthday and anniversary
included, as well as one of my favorite holidays (Halloween). In the
wine world it's also #MerlotMe month where wine consumers around the
world are sharing in the festivities of this international
grape that has been building back up it's reputation after its decline from
the movie Sideways that debuted in 2004. If you're not familiar with
the movie, Miles, the main character, was going out to dinner with
his friend Jack and stated “If anyone orders Merlot I'm leaving. I
am NOT drinking any (expletive) merlot!” It's amazing how
something like a joke in a movie can change consumer's perception of a grape.
I've always enjoyed merlot, but I must say I'm pretty picky
in the style of which it is produced.

Merlot Around the WorldMerlot is an
international grape that is either produced as a single varietal or
can be found as a blending grape. It's a star on the right bank in
Bordeaux, France as well as California and Washington state. Merlot
provides soft characters, rounding out a wine with fruit forward
notes of blackberry and raspberry notes. In Italy this grape is
often overlooked as Italy has hundreds of its own indigenous grapes
so not many are thinking of merlot when considering Italian wines,
but it has a presence as a blending grape and also as a single
varietal within Italy. It's mostly known as a blending grape in the
Super Tuscan wines of Tuscany, but you can also find it as a single
varietal in the northeastern part of Italy including the
Trentino-Alto Adige region, Friuli and other regions. It's style is
dictated by where it's grown and whether or not oak plays a factor in
it's production.

Merlot PairingsLast year I
prepared my 4 merlot wines with my highlighted dish of Polenta
and Sausage. This year I received a sample of the
2013 Duckhorn Merlot, which so happened to be my top choice last
year only in the 2012 vintage. So, needless to say, that is what I paired with this years
selection of baked rigatoni with sausage. The sausage, a Sweet Italian
Style Chicken Sausage with red and green peppers from Trader Joes,
was the perfect addition to the dish and a great accompaniment to the merlot. The ripe, rich fruit of the merlot was a nice balance to the acidity of the sauce in the dish. The 2013
Duckhorn Merlot was full of ripe black raspberries and savory notes
of baking spices. It's a well structured wine with firm tannins and a
beautiful lasting finish.

The rest of our
Wine Pairing group (#WinePW) has plenty more amazing pairings with
merlot so don't miss out! If you're catching us in time, join us
live on twitter#winepwSaturday October 8th @ 11am EST.
All are welcome!